I’m a Husband, Dad, a former Marine of nine years, turned Writer.

I have too many stories.
It’s mostly annoying because coworkers will tell me a story I dig,
and then I try to relate with my own experience,
but it always comes off like I’m trying to flex… Really, I’ve just lived like 5 lives so far.

Stories like the children in Afghanistan's Nawa province, (my first combat deployment) chanting, "QALAM, QALAM, QALAM!" which, for those of you not fluent in Pashto, Qalam translates to pencil… This moment is why I’m a writer.

People ask me a lot how a Marine goes from war IRL to the “war room” (a mostly annoying metaphor we use to describe capitalism’s central command.

If you think about it, it’s kind of the same thing,

_____

Quick action, quicker wit. 
Question everything; it ensures the strategy keeps you and your ideas alive.

Some ideas die and unfortunately, so do some Marines.
Not to be morbid— it’s just a known hazard of both combat and creativity. 
We all have to come to terms with that.

Train in the field — Think in the Field Notes notebook. 
Smoke — And joke. 
Run for hours — Write for hours.
“Radio in the 9-line.” — “Email me the 9 lines.”
Earn medals — Win clios. 

_____

In the end, it’s all about the squad. 
Do your job, work to win and accomplish the mission.

I could keep going. But If you’ve actually read this far,
you see the obvious correlation. Same-same but different.

So, holler if you could use my Qalam or want to swap war-room stories. 

Peace and love.
Tim

P.S.

One time, I was at a couch-warming party…
A dude with long, shaggy hair, wearing a
button-down and a brown, velvet vest sat next to me.
His tight black pants and Doc Martens hung
off the couch. I was at Columbia College Chicago then,
studying creative writing.

Told him my goal was to be a copywriter.
He asked what kind.
I shrugged my shoulders and said all of it.
He then proceeded to mansplain all the different
categories, mediums, the difference of
above and below the line, B2B, B2C, and everything
in-between. Passively (but mad aggressively) he
told me I can’t write for everything.

He asked me again, what kind of copywriter
I wanted to be…
I said the kind that does all of it.
And I have.
Thanks to him.